A 12-year-old Alaskan hunter tells the “Finding Bigfoot” crew that he saw an 8-foot bigfoot-like creature up close in a forest clearing. The show uses this computer-generated bigfoot as the boy describes his encounter.

Animal Planet executives may not care how people react to the show as long as viewers tune in. And they are.

Over the show’s six-episode first season, “Finding Bigfoot” has averaged 1.2 million viewers in its Sunday night premieres, making it among the top three series on the Discovery-owned cable network (“River Monsters” and “Whale Wars” are the other Animal Planet hits.)

Next week, Animal Planet will announce it has renewed “Finding Bigfoot” for a 10-episode second season to begin airing in early 2012. There are also plans for the network to air a two-hour special this fall around Halloween tentatively titled “The Squatchiest Place on Earth.”